Corporations have a long way to go to maximize their reputation with an increasingly demanding public according to the Global Corporate Reputation Index, which measured corporate citizenship and performance across 6,000 companies. For most companies, citizenship scores lagged in comparison to basic performance attributes such as quality and innovation.

The Index, which was based on 40,000 consumer interviews across six countries (Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, Russia, and the United States), indicates that companies have an opportunity to strengthen their reputation by demonstrating and communicating their commitment to the consumers and communities they serve.

The model is a new way to look at corporate reputation as distinct from brand. Core attributes like quality, service and innovation are scored to create a market performance indicator while personal attributes like caring, friendly and service to the community are scored as a citizenship indicator, with the two averaged to create the Global Corporate Reputation Index. But each brand has an all important measure across geographies – the citizenship gap, which shows whether issues are a drag on its overall reputation or not. The greater the gap, the greater citizenship issues can act as a drag on market performance. It’s a new concept and new way to measure and allocate corporate resources.

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